- Tooth fungus
Tooth fungi are a relatively small polyphyletic group of fungi whose
mushroom bears its spores on ahymenium - a layer of "mother cells" - Although many tooth fungi are hard and inedible, some are prized both for their flavor and their ease of identification, such as "Hericium erinaceus ", the "bearded tooth mushroom". Others, such as "Sarcodon imbricatus " are edible but bitter. Still other species, though not edible, find use in the production of natural dyes.Despite their physical similiarites,
molecular phylogeny has divided the tooth fungi among several orders, includingCantharellales (including thehedgehog mushroom ),Russulales (including the bearded tooth mushroom), andThelephorales . Another fungus - the toothed jelly fungus, "Pseudohydnum gelatinosum" - has "teeth" but is an even more distantly related, as one of thejelly fungi .External links
* [http://americanmushrooms.com/toothfungi.htm AmericanMushrooms.com: Tooth Fungi]
* [http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/tfl.tooth_fungi.html Pinewood tooth fungi species profile]
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